


The Only Thing Between You and Your Destiny is a Very Angry, Rich Man

by Dapnee Williams (DegenerateArtistPresent)



Category: Borderlands
Genre: Gen, Novelization of BL2, like that would take too long, not going for the longest fanfic ever, various character POVs, will contain many relationships, will not contain every side quest
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-19
Updated: 2014-10-11
Packaged: 2018-02-18 00:43:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2329013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DegenerateArtistPresent/pseuds/Dapnee%20Williams
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Novelization of Borderlands 2. When teams assemble, it's usually for a common goal. You have that, get into Pandora's second Vault, but that's pretty much where the similarities end.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Calling All Hunters

**Author's Note:**

> I'm insane. I'm not even sure if I can even get past a few chapters in general, but here we are. One of my favorite things about video games is lore. In many ways, it's the life blood of a movie or any piece of art that keeps a fandom for so long. The discussions, the arguments, just about anything can occur from smaller stories hidden away by an artist, and that's how they give the very life fiber to their masterpiece. The very game beings as a story of the characters you play as. And it always changes when you start a new play through. Where you could have struggled against Flynt as Axton, your Gaige wipes the floor with him.
> 
> I would love to catch this in my writing as much as possible. Now for more of the usual introductory nuances.
> 
> Pearlescent spoilers to be held within, this is in fact a novelization, and I "plan" to end this at the ending/continue into a sequel that extends the story beyond Pandora. Editing occurs as I write and before I submit, though certain errors may still occur. I will try to work on this as much as possible, but I have quite a few things going on in my life right now. Chapters will meet a quota of three thousand words or more (or) two chapters link to one another. Each chapter is under a different character's viewpoint (to be given at the beginning if each chapter), choice is up to the most relevant viewpoint at the moment. Detailed gore, suggestive Moxxi, awkward everything, and everything you expect from the game to be held within. Many Psychos were harmed in the writing of this book (the red ink had to come from somewhere).

P.O.V ???

Pandora, a planet of Skag eat Skag. Like, no, LITTERALLY, we have a video of a Skag eating one of her babies. Like whoa dude. I still can't believe that thing is still on the Echo-net. The thing is dangling around and- oh yeah.

Pandora, blahblahblah, a planet of death, kill or be killed, home to the most vile, dangerous creatures of the galaxy. But also, home to the greatest treasure trove of all time, the Vault. For years, the legends spoke of unnamed men and women who hunted for the riches that the world hid from its inhabitants. These people were called Vault Hunters, but we're usually called plain crazy as many, many, MANY of them died, no where closer to their fame.

But then it happened. Four lucky Hunters struck out, through all the obstacles that the world and it's inhabitants threw at them and opened it.

Only for a giant monster to emerge. This creature was a nasty one, threatening the hunters and the very planet it was released upon. The fight was a tough one indeed, and the Hunters were still victorious, gaining at least a bit of loot that the alien creature hid behind in the vault.

Unbeknownst to the Vault Hunters, the large monster was not hiding just guns or money behind it but the greatest resource Pandora had ever seen before.

Eridium.

A very powerful energy source, some say energy that has become solid. Once fully discovered, corporations all came out to mine the material, some to research it's effects, others for the destructive power it possessed. And then there was the one who saw much more into it. Handsome Jack.

This man knew the potential of the material held and brought the great majority of his operations of Hyperion to collect the material. He named himself ruler of Pandora, had hundreds of people killed in the name of his investment, and began "culturing" the savages of the planet by adding his own people in where he kick out Pandora's original inhabitants.

Now with news that there was a second Vault somewhere on the planet, Jack was in a race to find out what was inside. Sending messages across the universe in hope that some individual would be able to find this new Vault for him.

And that my friends, is where our new Vault Hunters, came in.


	2. A Bit of the Cold Shoulder

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The most unseen double cross you'll ever see.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Most of the characters are going to be a bit easy for me to write as. But then there's Axton. I have never played as, or seen anyone play as him in general, so I'll be in the process of familiarizing myself with him in these next few chapters. Lucky him.

Axton's POV

Why oh why did he ever go on this train. 

Axton stretched out as he lunged on one of the many uncomfortable train seats that were available. 'From the sound of the ad, I'm surprised no one else is here as well'. He played with the metal band on his left hand's ring finger as he looked up at the ceiling of the moving locomotive. 'Why do we still have trains in general? They're so easy to destroy. Breaking the tracks, placing live explosives nearby, robots to come out - Oh right, I was trying to think of something other than how ridiculous this designated Vault Hunter Train was.'

He looked off to his left, out the many windows that lined the train to finally see something of interest. A small settlement that broke away from the emptiness that covered the entire planet. He couldn't remember the name of it, and wasn't bothered to open his echo to check. He could hear the train squeal as it decelerated. 'I wonder who'll be joining in my search' Axton sat straight up to get a better look.

As the train pulled up to the station, he saw only one person at the station. He couldn't really make out any features at this distance, but one thing was certain, whoever it was was short.

The doors to the train opened with a slight hiss and the new guy came aboard. The man was definitely short, but he also seemed really strong for his stature. The man was carrying two shotguns around openly, resting them on his shoulders. As he crossed the threshold, his bullet magazines he wore across his chest. He took in a long inhale through his noes and let it out, "I can't WAIT for today to get started!"

Sure, brawns could get you some places, but not every weight lifter could last against an angry Bullymong. Axton nodded to the new arrival as the doors closed and the other man took a seat nearby.

"Hola. Are you here for the bad guy stomping?" The other mans voice was tinged with a Spanish accent.

Axton laughed softly to himself, "You could say that."

"Oooooh, you're one of those guys who want a bit of whatever's in that Vault, eh? I'm sure whatever's in it, Jack will keep most of it."

"You sure about that buddy? I'm sure he'll let us get something at least."

The man chuckled to himself now. "You sure you're on the right planet, hombre? Jack's been sending men and machines to steal everything this planet has to offer. He's tried taking my village back there for himself."

"Very Interesting/the battle you were in was/Glad I could watch it" The two men both froze. Each turned to their right to see a fully black suited man, sitting cross legged a few seats away. The intruder turned his head, his masked face unviewable. A smilie emote flashed in front of the glass on his helmet. "Didn't mean to startle you two."

"And where the hell did you come from?" Axton was searching his head on how he could of missed such a easily spotted man. 'A freaking Ninja.'

The man simply pointed up, and the two realized that there was a clean cut hole in top of the train now. The short man laughed, "I like your stuff man! I'm Salvador."

The suited man emoted a zero on his helmet, "Many a name for / the one before you present / Zer0 is common." He sat silently for a second before speaking again, "And Salvador is correct."

The train came to another stop, everyone but Zer0 bodies shifted to the stop. 'This train conductor is doing a real shitty job today.' Axton grouched.

They arrived near one of the few transitioning cities that the planet held. These locations were usually frequented by new arivees, as ships would only drop off cargo and passengers to relatively safe locations. This city was most likely protected by Hyperion, however, by the look of it, Axton guessed the city didn't wager much importance to the leaders of the group as the Company's body guards of the city were absent.

The train's doors opened once more to reveal a girl. She was probably fresh out of high school, or maybe even younger, as she was still wearing her uniform, with a few modifications here and there. One of these modifications came in the sight of the girls missing left arm, which was now a metal prosthetic. She seemed a bit apprehensive, standing at the doorway and looking in at the men already aboard.

"You sure you're on the right train?" Salvador chortled as the girl finally crossed through, the doors had tried to close over her.

"This is the Vault Hunters train, right?" She tried putting on a brave face as the train began to move.

Axton rolled his eyes and got out of his seat, "So." He waited a second to continue as everyone watched him. "We're all Vault Hunters here it seems, but the question is really, can any of you actually fight-" Axton lifted his index finger at Salvador, "I wasn't talking about you, and I wasn't talking about the Ninja either." Zer0 continued to sit in his seat impassively observing. "You, girl," Axton pointed at the red head who was still looking pretty lost, "What happened to your arm?"

"Dude," Salvador pinched the bridge of his nose.

"What?"

The teenager stood there for a few seconds before switching her dazed face for clenched teeth, furrowed brows. "I happened to my arm."

Axton let out a slight laugh at the girl, "You 'happened' to your arm? What, you fell and broke your arm on the monkey bars or something?"

"Chica, you don't have to tell this soldier anything." Salvador said, shooting a warning glance at Axton.

She put up her robotic hand at the short man, "Oh no, nothing like that. I just simply cut it off." Her voice was getting too quiet to hear almost. "You'd be amazed how dedication can drive you into third place."

"Third place?"

The girl put her hand upward and a blinding light filled the air as something digistructed. When the light dimmed, a hulking robot floated in the middle of the train, dwarfing the other passengers.

The girl smiled at the reaction she'd gotten. "Gentlemen, meet DEATHTRAP!" The robot continued to float, doing nothin more than move the 'head' it had to look at all of them.

"Is that it?" Axton asked, receiving a stern look from the girl.

"DT isn't just going to show off in a train, that'd be dangerous. Plus, he only attacks _threats_." She let the word stretch as she glared at Axton.

'All right, remember not to mess with teenagers that have giant robots tucked away in their arms.' Axton and the entire train finally realized they had stopped moving at some point and looked out the trains left sided windows.

A fight was occurring right on the train station, a woman was firing away at something hiding behind a rock. Most of the train took to watching, having no idea why she didn't just jump on the train already.

A rat was making its way behind the woman as she was distracted. Zer0 was just about to raise his sniper as a Psycho finally emerged from behind the rock, lobbing his axe at the woman.

None of them moved. None of them truthfully knew if the axe or the rat would kill this would be vault hunter. And then maybe by a fluke, the axe sawed through the rats head. The woman turned finally to witness a whole mob of rats ready to pounce seeing as their ambush failed.

The woman continued to gawk at her would be attacker as the Psycho ran past her, grabbed his axe from the dead rat, and went on to strew more of the alive rats on the floor.

The Psycho was so engrossed in his attack that he failed to notice a rat sneak up behind him. The woman hesitated, but then she up one of her hands, the tattooz on her glowed bright blue and the rat was enveloped by some dark energy, suspended in the air. It's eyes shot back and forth as the Psycho looked over at him, held up his axe, and drove it into the scared rats skull.

'A siren?' Axton raised his right eye brow as he watched the two talk for a minute, though he was pretty sure the Psycho wasn't saying anything too.... Coherent.

The red head looked at the girl across the way, her mouth hung open, "You're a freaking SIREN!?"

The woman finally turned, looking over them all and smiled, "Did the tattoos give it away?"

"You sure that Psycho isn't just going to, you know," Axton gestured to the blood and gore behind the two, "do that to you?"

"I'm sure that..." She paused before lowering her voice so no one in the train can hear her, only for-

"KrieEEEEG!" The Psycho shouted over the silence. The Siren grabbed the bridge of her nose.

"I'm sure that Krieg will behave himself." She sighed out.

"I'm sure that I don't really trust him." Axton pointed at the Psycho, "You get to ride on the outside of the train."

"Isn't that a little.... Mean?" The Siren watched the Psycho cling to the side of the train.

"It's a Psycho, he'll be fine, just get on the train already." Axton went back to his seat as the rest watched the Siren board. 'She might have fight in her, but she'll get killed for her fondness of being charitable.'

The doors shut loudly and the train began to move again. An electronic woman's voice spoke over the intercom, "Next stop, Opportunity." 'Seems like six passengers is enough to get a straight ticket to the end of the track.'

It was quiet once again, everyone in a seat, with the exception of the Psycho, who hung on the side of their cabin, and death trap, who continued to float unaltered to the trains movements.

"So," the siren seemed a bit antsy in her seat, "What's everyone's names? I'm Maya."

The mechromancer grinned ear to ear, "I'm Gaige, and this is Death Trap, I was just showing him off to everyone." DEATHTRAP made a sound before he de-digistructed. "And there he goes," Gaige sighed.

The soldier shrugged, "Axton."

"Me llamo Slavador," the short man then pointed over to the assassin further away, "And that's Zer0." Zer0 didn't say anything to that, probably didn't want to go through a second introduction.

"Kind of exciting, this vault thing, right?" Maya asked as they had slipped into another silence. "Can't wait to go fight some bandits and psycho's-" she cut herself off as she probably remembered the Psycho clutched on the outside of the train somewhere.

Axton could hear the two girls talk as he stared out the window. His guts were twisting more and more as they had been going, and now he was sure something was up. He looked over to Zer0 standing up. "Something isn't right," the assassin had his hand on his sword that lay in its sheathe on his left hip.

Now everyone in the cabin was standing, some pacing around, looking out windows, wondering what the masked man had sensed.

One of the overhead compartments opened, a sign sliding down to greet them. Handsome Jack's face smiled on it, the writing next to him stating, "Welcome Vault Hunters...." before it fell down to reveal a second. This one had Jack smirking at them, fire burning behind him, "... To Your Deaths!" It finished off.

The seats they had been sitting on collapsed to the ground, leaving no cover for them to take. They could hear large projectiles hitting the train, most likely Hyperion robots. "You all ready?" Axton yelled out to the other Hunters.

Salvador cackled, cracking his knuckles before pulling out two machine guns. Maya pulled out her maliwan submachine gun, gritting her teeth. Zer0, well, Axton couldn't see that guy anymore. Axton himself pulled out a rifle and waited.

"Wait!" The mechromancer grabbed on to the Siren, "I-I.... I don't have a gun...."

"What about that robot of yours?" Axton whispered as he heard the robots tearing away at the roof of the compartment they were in.

"Yeah, you see the thing about Deathtrap is that he's kind of stuck where ever digistructed things go for about... A few hours." Gaige coward further behind Maya as a Loader fell down right before them.

Axton readied his turret, "Kid, you might want to run away then." He launched the small box he had it deconstruct from. It was similar almost to the girls robot, but it couldn't move, couldn't grow giant claws, and didn't take cutting his arm off to use.

The bullets began flying now as he, the Siren, and the Gunzerker began mowing down all of the machines that came down to greet them. Zer0, from all he could tell, had bailed, and Gaige was cowering a few feet away from them, trying to make herself as invisible as she could. Not much they could do to help someone who didn't have a weapon.

Axton had to admit the to admit the other two could handle themselves. Salvador was able to cut down enemies easily as his two guns ran down bullets faster than even his turret could. Maya's ability to pull enemies off the ground and imbolize them, leaving an easy opening to fire at them and move to the next.

The robots had finished coming for then and each of them ejected almost empty clips to slap back in fresh ones. But something still was a bit off, and Axton really didn't want to be the one to say it. Lucky for him, Zer0 reamerged from thin air. "I can't tell if the conductor is okay."

They each paced through the compartment, the front of the train was sealed off, two buttons near the doorway, one most likely an intercom, the other to open the door. The Vauly Hunters gathered around the door, Axton gut reaction was yelling at him to run, but he had to know if the train needed a secondary driver or not. He pushed passed it and pressed one.

The door slid open, and nothing seemed off. Then the conductors chair turned and everyone's hearts almost stopped.

'A dummy filled with dynamite,' Axton gritted his teeth, 'Jack really likes screwing with us.'

The crude dummy spoke through a recorder strapped to the dynamite, "Sorry kiddies, but this is where you guys get off."

Axton turned and shielded his head as it went off, the last thing he remembered was the deafening sound of the dynamite blowing away everything in its path.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the wait. I have been working on this off and on during breaks at work, and I also had to edit a bit of the story in order to fix an error (I was going to have Gaige and Maya get on the train at the same time until I re-watched "A Meat Bicycle for Two").
> 
> That, and I still need to work on my character introductions.
> 
> And I would like to extend an invitation to anyone in terms of my characterizations, ie you feel I messed up something/made a character do something they wouldn't do/say, please message me.
> 
> I will be playing the Presequel as soon as I can and will edit anything else that may conflict with current fan base knowledge.
> 
> Lastly, thank you all for reading, it's really nice knowing that my (currently) short story is getting hits as I work.


	3. An Eye for an Eye

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Vault Hunters are taken under claptrap's wing as the group decides on what to do next.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ew, I procrastinated this for too long. 
> 
> Last chapter was under my limit, but I was starting to go crazy not finishing it. Oh, and if you haven't yet, go buy Tales of the Borderlands. For me, it's the best in the ip, the characters are great, music is great. Telltale's best.

POV - Maya  
  
Darkness, darkness, darkness, darkness, cold, freezing cold, shivering, the sounds of howling wind and someone complaining.  
  
Maya's eyes were heavy, being the only body part she could really feel. She fought them, focusing on breathing and opening her eyes.  
  
When they finally opened, she found out why she was so cold. Snow covered every inch around her. So much of it, with rocks or something sticking out every once in a-  
  
Her eyes opened wider as she realized they were hands, arms, and other bits and pieces of people all around her. She wanted to jump up from the cold, bloody snow, but her body ached too much.  
  
"Jeesh, Jack's been busy." Came a robotic voice, Maya moved her eyes to in front of her and noticed a robot. Not like the ones that had attack them on the train, that was sure. She was pretty sure he was a low classed robot as it was... burying the dead bodies around her.  
  
Maya began struggling to reach toward the robot. Maybe it could help pull her up or... something.  
  
The robot seemed to look over at her movement, not thinking about it for a second before double taking. "You're alive? Yes!" He abandoned the shovel he was using, slamming it on the ground and rolled over to her. "Claptrap your metaphorical boat has set sail!"  
  
The robot stared down at her for a few seconds before she grabbed at his wheel, "Are you going to help me up, or just stare?"  
  
He jumped, or more so it looked like his wheel elevated before returning to his actual height, "Let me help you up then friend!" He held out his hand as Maya reached for it, and she placed most of her weight on him. He sunk a few centimeters into the fresh snow but Maya was now standing.  
  
She was hunched over, breathing heavily, hugging herself. "Cold, it's too cold for me robot." Maya's teeth chattered, her whole body shook and she hated it. Being cold was such a waste of energy for her, her powers were hard enough to focus when she wasn't shaking.  
  
"Oh, right, humans have warm blood! Yes, I do have a place that might be warm enough for us to stay at! Follow me new friend." Claptrap, as he had called himself, spun around and begun drifting away from the siren.  
  
"Wait!" The robot fell over before looking back. "There-there might-t-t-t be m-m-ore of th-th-th-them out here." Maya couldn't get her mouth to move fast enough to her liking, stuttering was something she despised to come out of her mouth.  
  
"More of them?" Claptrap scratched at the back of his 'head', his eye rotating for a second, "OOh! You mean more of you humans! Then let's start digging."  
  
"There's six of-f-f us, one-"  
  
"Found one!" Clap-trap began hopping a short distance away, Maya took unsteady steps over to the robot to see if who it was.  
  
It was the shorter guy, the native Panordian, who's eyes were just starting to crack open. "Need a h-h-hand there big guy?" Maya grabbed his outstretched hand and tried to help him up without sinking too far into the snow.  
  
"We c-c-couldn't of been stranded in th-the desert or something," he shook hard.  
  
"Not used to the cold, huh buddy?" Maya tried, smiling. The Pandorian glared at her, his hands holding his sides, "Okay, sorry for trying to lighten the mood. We just need to find the others be-"  
  
"Not to be mean, Maya, but I wasn't expecting to really hang around you guys." Salvador turned around, "Hey, little robot, where can I find somewhere warm?"  
  
Maya gritted her teeth while the robot looked between the two. "Ummm, how long can the human body survive in bellow freezing temperature again?"  
  
Salvador shook his head before walking off, his hands in his arm pits. If he found someone over there he'd better get them out, she huffed following the path she had chosen for as long as she could.  
  
A cliff before her fell off for a long distance before bottoming out into a frozen over river. One of the train's compartments was down there, along with some other pieces of the damaged track. A pretty nasty looking fall. She hoped no one on the train had ended up launched down there, or they wouldn't be coming back out anytime soon.  
  
A hand appeared on the edge of the cliff. Maya backed away, unsure what it'd be, before the assassin poked their head over the embankment. "Oh it's you," she smiled, her lips almost feeling like they didn't exist on her face anymore, "You fall down there or something?"  
  
"No." They said before shakily moving up they're other arm, revealing a frightened Mechromancer. Her eyes were distant, but she was breathing a little harder than usual, so Maya waved it off as shock. "Give me a hand here/she is not as light as thought/most likely her arm." The hand that was keeping the two over the cliff was shaking heavily.  
  
"Oh," she grabbed the girl by the hands and the helmeted person and her pulled/pushed her up. They were all now standing on the top of the cliff. "Thanks.... um, guy?" Maya continued holding Gaige's hand, unsure if the girl was completely aware of what was happening.  
  
The assassin smiled... or more interestingly, flashed an emote before they're helmet. "Zer0." They stated before the :) turned into a :o. "You're bleeding." Maya looked down. She was already aware of the black smudges and other minor bruises and cuts covering most of her, but a large cut on her left leg was bleeding worse than she had though.  
  
"Figures." She said under her breath, before addressing Zer0, "We still have..... ummm, that psycho and the soldier guy to find." She could feel Gaige shaking worse than her, and knew anyone stuck in the snow definitely needed to be dug out soon or they'd freeze.  
  
"Oh yeah," came a voice. Maya and Zer0 looked over to see Axton slowly limping over to them, "Let's just all forget about old Axton over here, no problem-o." His teeth gritted, and he was leaned over to his left, his right foot almost touching the ground as he hobbled over. "Not like my dumb leg here didn't get crushed by debris or anything." He sucked in air for a minute, "Totally fine."  
  
"Oh calm down you big baby." Maya grinned, "We couldn't of possibly forgot of our poor old friend Axton, now could we Gaige, Zer0."  
  
The soldier took a minute, "Please don't mock me right now, I can't think well enough to make a good enough comeback."  
  
"We should probably get inside soon." The assassin said, beginning to walk straight past Axton, taking Gaige's hand to make her follow along.  
  
"But what about Krieg?" Maya yanked on the Mechromancer's other hand, eliciting a yelp. "We just can't leave someone out here to die."  
  
"All for a Psycho/ we could also find death too/ best to hope he's fine."  
  
The siren glared at the masked assassin until she turned her head, letting go of Gaige's hand. "Fine." She walked a few feet away, her whole body shaking as she moved. "I'll f-f-find him on my own."  
  
She turned back, found they were already quite a bit away. Figures, she ground her teeth a bit as she began walking again. She hadn't even considered spending much time at all with the other vault hunters. The way Jack advertised it, it sounded like it was a lone wolf kind of thing, trekking across Pandora, finding whatever a vault looked like, and calling him up to show him where it was.  
  
But it couldn't of been simple, Maya kicked a rock in her way. No, Jack was just a bad a person as-  
  
Maya shook her head, feeling her body slowly grow accustomed to the cold. No, she was just succumbing to hypothermia, something she hadn't really thought was going to ever kill her. It wasn't really worth it to continue looking.  
  
A puff of steam from her trembling lips, the siren turned and found the small robot at her heels. "How long have you been there," she asked, starting to walk back.  
  
"Oh! Not very long. Your friends seemed worried that you'd continued looking so I came back to make sure to grab you before you passed out, or anything worse happened."  
  
"Worse than freezing to death?" she frowned.  
  
"OOH! There's TONS of things out here that would love to find a defenseless Vault Hunter! Large, monstrous Bullymongs, and Rakks looking for possibly there first meal in days."  
  
"Thanks Claptrap." Great, now I'm gonna get paranoid, she thought, biting her lip. They walked for what seemed forever, Maya continuing to feel relatively warm, tried to rub her arms and hands to try and keep from losing them. "How'd you end up out here Clap?"  
  
"Oh you know," his older tracks seemed to cross here and there with his newer ones now, "I was a CL4P-TP general issue unit, though everyone just calls us Claptrap's- or they WOULD if Handsome Jack didn't kill ALL of us and leave me here to DIE! But luckily enough for me, a good friend found me and fixed me up. And ever since then I've been here, in Jack's little kill zone for you Vault Hunters!"  
  
"Why wait for Vault Hunters if Jack was only interested in blowing us up?" Maya could see past a few boxes a door with a few tarps flapping erratically in the wind.  
  
Claptrap moved toward a panel beside the door and began tapping keys in fast, methodic movements. "Because, as a claptrap unit, there is no other ultimate purpose than opening doors. Your built in a Hyperion factory, customized to fit the customer's request and that's when you learn that everyone finds you as a burden." His voice joyful. He stopped, and pressed a final button before standing before the door, a sensor streamed over him and the door slid to the side.  
  
"Oh, uh." Maya fumbled at words she couldn't find before the robot showed them in. The main entrance wasn't terribly messy but further into the next room, were piles of broken robots and leftover limbs. Still it seemed to function as a living room, with couches and beds and a singular table in the middle. It wasn't completely warm as Maya'd hoped, but the shielding from the cold wind that the walls gave was much apreciated.  
  
On the table was Gaige who seemed to gain some movement since last seen, swinging her legs and watching something across the room. Salvador was repurposing a couch as a bonfire, which easily rose above his figure. Axton was pacing, his path avoiding the hunks of robots and the occasional bloody head. "Absolutely disgusting."  
  
"Sorry about the mess. Everything Jack kills, he dumps here – bandits, Vault Hunters, Claptrap units… If I sound pleased about this, it’s only because my programmers made this my default tone of voice! I’m actually quite depressed! " Claptrap crossed the room toward a cabinet that he pulled out five things out of it. "Here, I 'found' these echo-devices out in the snow. Totally not on dead Vault Hunters."  
  
"Interesting." Zer0 fell down from the ceiling, the other occupants of the room flinching. "You just happened to find five? Not six, not ten?" With as much sceptical sounding that robotic voice it had, the assassin took one of the machines off of the table and clipped it to his belt. The heads up display piece popped up and Zer0 placed it somewhere on his helmet.  
  
Axton approached next, grinning ear to ear, "Ah the Echo-net. How I've missed you." He withdrew from the table after grabbing his own. Gaige made some excited noises as she reached across the table.  
  
"Why are you two gringos excited about Echo devices," came Salvador, leaving his fire to slowly shrink. The two looked around the room, acting as if the question was never brought up. The Pandorian shook his head, taking his echo device and only placed it on his belt.  
  
Maya moved forward, taking her own and watching as her vision with a HUD, her own vital signs appeared, along with those of the other hunters, a compass, and information of the rounds left in her gun. Messing around with the devices with only her thoughts and eye movements, Maya found a back pack setting and a map.

Gaige was the first to break the silence as everyone brought their attentions back to the world around them. "So, Jack's screwed us over pretty badly, huh."

"Screwed us over is putting it lightly." Maya frowned.

"Should of never trusted a Hyperion boy," Axton shook his head as he began looking through some of the chests in the room. "They were always trying to bully every other corporation, but now he's just being unfair."

"Unfair?" Came Salvador, slamming his fist on the table. "He killed everyone I used to know. He's a coward, that Pendejo is mine to kill."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa there pal," Claptrap rolled over to the elevated portion of the ground near the table, "You guys are going after Jack?"

"Well, if you put it that way," Axton smirked, "I guess we are."

"Are you suggesting we team up?" Zer0 was now beside Salvador, watching Axton also join at the table.

Axton nodded, "If we don't, who will?"

"Good point," Maya walked over and stood beside Gaige.

The Mechromancer placed her metal hand in the middle of the air between them all, palm down, "Team?"

"Not like I was here for anything else." Axton placed his hand over her's, followed by Zer0 and Maya. Salvador huffed for a bit before also adding in his hand.

"I know we can do this minions!" Claptrap's 'hand' also joined the circle. They all rose there hands at the same time, "TO STOP JACK!"

"Hey, is this thing working?" Axton's voice sounded like he was screaming into both of her ears, she, Gaige and Salvador slapped their hands over their ears.  
  
"Think you could turn down your mic first?" Gaige scolded him, punching him in the arm. "We're all right here you know!"  
  
"Sorry, I forgot the older models of these things had the mic settings through the roof." An icon showing Axton's face was on the top right of Maya's hud, as he was continuing to use his mic.  
  
"Older models!?" Gaige's brows narrowed further as she got off the table, "These are newer than the Echo-devices my dad got me a few weeks ago. What's up with that?"  
  
Axton shrugged, "That's kind of because Dahl doesn't give out the newer models until they make new ones for their military forces. Hell, I'm sure Hyperion or any other group gives their newer tech to their soldiers before they release it to the public. You wouldn't want your enemies being able to mess with the tech the boys keeping you alive are using."  
  
Maya watched the two go back and forth, Gaige trying to get to know more of what Dahl was hiding from the public, which Axton was trying to avoid entirely. A woman's voice, clearer than what Axton's mic had sounded spoke through her echo-device, "I’ll explain everything soon, but know this – you’re alive for a reason, and I… am here to help you." The woman's image quickly faded and Maya shook her head, seeing that no one else seemed alarmed by anything. Must be a delusion, she thought.  
  
"Now, the creatures around here are dangerous, none more than this Bullymong named Knuckle Dragger – killed everyone I know. Anywho, I keep a pistol in the cabinet over there for emergencies, but in here, we should be pretty safe!" The robot pointed across the room at something before a loud roar came from somewhere above. "AH!" Claptrap was beginning to fold inward on himself before a giant four armed primate creature crashed through the open ceiling. It took the robot in one of it's hands as it began making it's way back up. The creature then took the robot in two hands, ripped something away from Claptrap, who was screaming in agony "WAAAAH!"  
  
Zer0 was the first to react, catching the robot as the creature swung itself out of the makeshift house, the piece of robot it had stolen still with it. Oil and wires were covering the area that once held the Claptrap's eye as it weakly pointed again, "The gun. The gun in the cabinet." Salvador turned to his right and opened the piece of equipment, a pistol laid within.  
  
"You mean this cruddy thing? I scratch my back with higher quality guns!" He laughed, reaching to his back before his face dropped. He looked around the room, "Do any of you still have your guns?"  
  
"Of course I still have my-" Axton also reached for something that wasn't on his back. "No way," he began swiping at the air around his echo-device, "It's not even in this dumb things inventory! You can't seriously have me believe we just lost are guns in that explosion!"

"Begin again then/ we can find better loot now/ shall we get started?" Zer0 's helmet was obscured by a question mark, wiping away oil that had been on his gloves.

The shorter Pandorian folded his arms, "I don't know about you guys, but the guns I had were good."

"Sometimes you just have to roll with the blows," Maya sighed, also finding that the blast had stripped her of her Maliwan SMG. "Take the gun Sal, I'm sure it will be more handy to you than just your fists." She reveled in turning her companions face a slightly darker shade of red that wasn't from the bonfire that was now dieing out.

The HUD added a new feature, labeling itself as a objective indicator. Gaige jumped up, "Let's get on with it then!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah yes, October was four months ago? This chapter is only a few words off from being the full 3000 word limit, but I feel that for not being action packed I dragged out the first mission long enough. In the future, I may come back and pull together this chapter and the next one for an even longer one, but I've kept you guys waiting long enough.
> 
> Feel free to message me over characterization, whatever that I may be doing wrong/be incorrect, I would love feed back in just about any form.
> 
> Next chapter is TBA, title in the works.

**Author's Note:**

> Apologies this one may be short or too expository, but I'm a bit stripped for time and tired. But don't worry, next should last a bit longer and actually have everything I was hoping to get to. I even had to change the title.


End file.
